Troubleshooting ActiveSync

The following information is an excerpt from an upcoming Microsoft White Paper concerning ActiveSync Connectivity.

So you've got your new Microsoft Pocket PC, Palm Size PC or Handheld PC (all running the Windows CE operating system), the battery is fully charged and you're ready to go. One of the first things you want to do is synchronize Outlook data from your desktop PC to your new Windows CE device. You install ActiveSync 3.1 without a hitch, you connect your Pocket PC to your desktop PC and the Get Connected Wizard runs smoothly at first. But then it stalls. It searches and searches and then returns a message telling you that no devices are connected to the desktop PC. What do you do?

Or maybe you've already been synchronizing successfully, and suddenly ActiveSync refuses to see your device. What happened? If either of these scenarios sounds familiar to you, then read on. This, the first article in a two part series will detail troubleshooting connectivity issues. The second article will focus on common problems encountered during the synchronization process.

ActiveSync 3.0 greatly improved synchronization for Windows powered Handheld and Palm-size PCs. ActiveSync replaced the RAS/DUN dependency with a PPP provider installed by ActiveSync and used only by ActiveSync. This architectural change in conjunction with ActiveSync's ability to now automatically "sniff out" the baud rate of the attached device improved connectivity tremendously. ActiveSync 3.1 brought these benefits to the new Pocket PC. However, while connecting is now considerably easier, and in the vast majority of cases works well, there are still certain situations where ActiveSync 3.1 cannot detect your device. This article will give you a helping hand with those.

Finding the problem: hardware vs. software

ActiveSync 3.1 occasionally needs help in the same areas that many other communications programs and peripherals encounter problems. These include the physical blocking of the serial communications (COM) ports and, more commonly, software programs that conflict with one another due to programmatic errors or conflicting design functionality.

Our troubleshooting goal is to determine where the conflict is occurring; either with the configuration of the hardware or with another program that is blocking ActiveSync's ability to see the Windows CE device attached to the COM, IR or USB port. Work through the steps below, rebooting and attempting to connect at the end of each numbered section. Continue until you are able to connect successfully.

Note: If you are having USB sync problems, skip to the section titled "Other Connection Problems."

Is the hardware configured correctly?

1. Start with the ActiveSync Troubleshooter. This can be found in Microsoft ActiveSync Help. This Troubleshooter is basic, but it covers the most common problems that prevent your device from connecting. It also has important steps concerning the use of the Terminal program to determine if your device can establish a low-level connection with a PC. These are important tests, which shouldn't be skipped. This article assumes that these steps have already been taken. If you haven't already run through the Troubleshooter, do so before continuing.

2. Are any external hardware peripherals sharing the COM port? These include external modems, digital cameras, Internet video cameras, scanners, etc... Obviously, if a modem is physically attached to a COM port, you can't connect the Windows CE device to it. But even if you detach the modem cable and connect Pocket PC's cable to the COM port, a conflict may still exist because of software installed to support the peripheral. You may need to uninstall the modem or other peripheral, and its software, according to the manufacturer's instructions. Or you could change the peripheral's configuration so that it uses another port.

3. Are any internal devices using the COM port? Even if you can't identify any devices or software configured to use the same COM port, you might still have that problem. Use the Device Manager and MSINFO32 to check this out.